I think 'Horace Silver' was actually the first live jazz group I ever heard back when I was a kid in St. Louis. So along with most players of my generation, I have a real affection for the music of 'Horace Silver.

Ninety-nine percent of the music that was of any interest to me when I was growing up came out of the black community.

Jazz music by its very nature is just a conglomerate of a lot of different kinds of music.

Music is just kind of an expression of who I am. It's what I do.

Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized and there's just no outlet, there's no venue for it, in terms of media.

Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave well enough alone. And that's a lifelong quest.

I look at the artistic process as like experiencing the world, channeling it through your personality and sending it back out there. That's the process.